Assisting Uncertainty
by SamCyberCat
Summary: Anzu receives a hesitant call for help. One-shot, drabble, RyouxAnzu or BakuraxTéa.


Response to a "Boiz and Gurlz" one-shot request from Dr Sipp under the prompt "Darkness". Based post-YGO so Yami no Bakura is not around.

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Candles burned from well thought-out positions in the room. There were no other lights in the house, as currently there this was the only room that was occupied and lighting the unwatched rooms would be both dangerous and just a waste of candles. The sole light in the house came from the candles in that one room.

However, this was not the home of an occultist, as it may seem. The house belonged to the average student Anzu Mazaki, who would quite happily be getting on doing normal non-occultist things in a well-lit room had it not been for the power cut.

She sighed. Power cuts were getting to be all too common around here. Not that it particularly mattered, but the origin of them was usually KaibaCorp. The ultra modern building pumped in so much energy it was a waste…

It was at these times that Anzu realised just how much she relied on electricity, and on her friends. When the group were with her they'd be sure to find some way too keep themselves entertained in the candle light. But board games and ghost stories hardly work when you were on your own. It was too late to call them but it still felt too early to sleep.

She could always have danced, but even if the risk of knocking the candles didn't apply there was just something about dancing in the dark that was creepy. It always felt as if someone was watching her.

But no one was watching her anymore. A few months ago this worry would have been perfectly sound. When the Pharaoh was around there was always some paranormal creature lurking in the shadows. That was the closest to the 'occult' she'd ever got. But when he left the creatures in the shadows seemed to leave with him. The paranormal became simply normal. She was starting to miss it.

As if on signal the phone started to ring, jolting her out of the train of thought with a start. She was jumping at ring tones now? At least villains of her past had been slightly scarier than that…

She walked over to the phone and picked it up. It was comforting that someone rang, that meant it wasn't too late for her friends to come see her like she thought it had been.

"Hello?"

There was a crackle down the phone line as if the speaker had lost their nerve than a quiet whisper of, "…Anzu?"

She knew that whisper. It wasn't unusual for Ryou Bakura to call at unusual times for unusual reasons. More often than not he was too scared to explain what these reasons were or in some cases hung up before even speaking.

"Is everything all right?" she asked in a soft reassuring voice, almost as though she was worried a louder reply would scare him away.

"N-no… Well, yes… Well… I'm not sure…" he stuttered.

"Do you want me to come round?" She offered. She knew that if trying to get answers out of him depended on the phone call she'd be there all night. At least if they were face to face she could talk to him without the risk of him crawling into a hidey-hole or hanging up on her.

"Yes!" he squeaked, the sudden change startled her, "If that would be all right. I wouldn't want to put you out of your way…"

"It's not out of my way at all, I'll be over as soon as I can," She assured.

As they both said goodbye and hung up the phone she pulled her jacket off the coat rack and left, locking the house behind her.

Domino City at night. For all KaibaCorp tried to make the place as tourist-friendly as possible there was something about the cover of darkness that brought out all the muggers and drunks that no amount of police force seemed to be able to take off the streets. There was real danger at this time and it was not the sort that wanted to take over the world.

She pulled her jacket closer around her. The blackout made it seem even worse than it was. Glancing around the street she saw it was all quiet. The only lights were the odd candle flickers from the various windows of those who had been better prepared for these occasions. No one wanted to be outside at times like this. Presumably even muggers had somewhere they called home to go to.

As she walked every step echoed around her. She was thankful there was no rain, and that Ryou's home wasn't too far from her own. It didn't take long to arrive, the journey being as danger-free as any other day without the Pharaoh… She was almost ready to admit to herself that she missed it. She could see a single candlelight from one of the windows and as she knocked she watched it disappear as Ryou carried it to the door.

He answered, face wide-eyed and surprised as if he hadn't expected her coming. The candle he was holding was old and well used - supported by a very decorative metal holder. The light from it lingered on his pale skin and hair, giving the very strong impression of a spectre, though she wouldn't say that. This effect was not helped by his choice of clothes, which was also mostly white and pale grey.

"C-come in," He mumbled, moving aside to let her through.

She had to admit she hadn't been here very often since Ryou had first invited the group over to play that tabletop RPG game. Things had changed a lot since then. The corridor was filled with strange occult items that seemed to thrive in the candlelight as it was passed over them. As she glanced in various rooms on her way past she saw these were the same – candles, creepy dolls, charms of all sorts… She wondered briefly why he hadn't lit any other candles since he had so many of them but decided it was best not to ask yet.

He led her through to the living room, which was less of a horde than the others but still not free from these unusual artefacts.

Upon sitting down he raised his hand as if to put out the candle then remembered he had company and lowered it again.

She sat opposite him, wondering if it was too direct to ask him what was wrong. If they were going to make small talk however there were plenty subjects in the house she'd want to avoid…

"I'm sorry for phoning you…" He began, she felt relieved that it hadn't been up to her to start the conversation.

"It's fine," She assured, "If you ever want to talk you know where I am."

He nodded meekly, but the offer to talk seemed to have been declined because he lapsed into silence. They were back to square one.

If she was going to get anywhere she had to ask the questions herself, "You seemed very worried on the phone". A shot in the dark.

He shook his head violently this time, eyes darting quickly around the room as if something would attack him.

"What would I possibly be scared of?" he murmured unconvincingly.

There's quite a few things here I'd be scared of, Anzu thought to herself. But all of these items belonged to Ryou. If he'd bought them presumably he shouldn't be scared of them. If he'd bought them…

A thought hit her.

"Ryou, are these things yours?" She asked.

He looked nervous, as if he didn't know what the right answer to this was.

"They're not are they?" She toned carefully.

He bit his lip, shuddering violently.

"They're his aren't they?"

He was still shaking and staring wildly around. This was cruel but this was the truth.

"Everything in this house belonged to the spirit of the Sennen Ring," She said. It was a statement, not a question this time.

"You mustn't!" He shouted suddenly, as if mentioning him would cause the world to end.

"Ryou he's gone!" She called, just as loudly, "You should have got rid of his things with him!"

"I can't touch them…" He cowered, wincing at her voice, "I'm not allowed to touch anything that belongs to him…"

"It's not within his power to do anything, he's been gone for months," She reasoned, and suddenly a lot of things clicked into place in her mind.

None of them really knew Ryou. There had been times when he'd loosely tag along with the group but as time went on these grew less and less. Not because none of them made the effort. When they saw Ryou on the streets they'd say hello, if there were a special event at someone's house Ryou would be invited. The list went on. But Ryou never stopped to talk long or accepted any invitations. He always had fictional errands to run.

Presuming these errands had been fictional at all. The occult horde had to come from somewhere and while it was hard for her to picture Yami no Bakura going shopping it would have been perfectly acceptable for Ryou to be out on the streets with shopping bags. How many times had she seen him around and said hello had she actually been talking to the ring's spirit? She suddenly felt sick…

"You have to let go," She spoke out solemnly. An image of Yami flashed in her mind but she ignored him.

"You can't say it as if it's that easy…" Ryou looked at her through wide eyes, pulling his knees up to his chest, "…You couldn't say that to Yugi."

She had to admit she couldn't.

"Nobody thinks of it like that," he whispered hoarsely, "Yugi had a friend who he was upset to see gone, I had an enemy, so everyone presumed it was easier for me…" Looking her in the eyes to make sure this point was clear he carried on, "Not to give the impression I'm upset to see the spirit gone, I'm glad that part of my life is over… But that's just it. It wasn't just part of my life, the spirit had been with me for such a long time… He'd warped the way I lived so much that I can't adjust to living without the fear of him…"

She was the one who was silent now. The whole life of this person was ruined. How could she possibly help him? Friendship was her faith. But that faith seemed to fall down in a situation like this… No. No it didn't. She remembered as much as she could that friendship was not just a word to be used sparingly. The concept of friendship, a group of people being there to support one another was very important. Alone Ryou would be consumed by the eternal memory of the spirit that dwelled in the ring. If someone was there with him, as difficult as it would be, there was a small chance he could be pulled out of this.

"I don't know if I can help…" She mumbled, and his face seemed to drop even more than it already had, "…But that won't stop me from trying. I know you don't like to hang around with the rest of us, maybe you were worried about him hurting us, but we really could help. You need to be with people who are unconnected to this."

Ryou shook his head, "You all have your own lives," He answered, "I don't want to get in the way of-"

She put her two forefingers against his lips to stop that sentence.

"You could never get in our way," She answered, "We want to be with you Ryou, we always have."

His cheeks turned a shade of pink at the touch but he seemed to accept what she'd said.

"How about I call them all now?" Anzu asked, and then seeing the look on Ryou's face she added, "We don't have to meet here, we can all go to my house."

"I'd like that," Answered Ryou, giving a small smile.

It didn't take long to get back to her own house. Somehow walking with someone so timid and scared gave Anzu confidence in the dark.

Once they got in she lit the candles again. He seemed puzzled to see candles that looked as if they'd just been bought from a shop as opposed to the well-worn ones that Yami no Bakura used.

She offered him a seat on the sofa and got some creampuffs out of the cupboard for him to eat while she called the others.

She decided to start with Jounouchi, to get the most difficult one out of the way first. After a lengthy amount of rings the phone was picked up.

A groggy voice muttered, "Who is it…?"

"Jounouchi? It's Anzu."

"What do you think you're doing calling at this hour?"

"I need you and the others to come over to my place."

"I was asleep…"

"It's for Ryou. He needs us… He needs his friends."

The voice changed to a more serious tone, "I'll be right over."

She gave Ryou a thumbs up and continued to call the others. She knew she was probably pushing this onto him. She knew it was probably too much too soon. But helping the lost souls was what she did. And when a friend needed her it could always be said that Anzu Mazaki would do what she could to help.


End file.
